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France´s Batheney new UAE coach

DUBAI (AFP) - France's Dominique Batheney, the assistant of previous United Arab Emirates coach Bruno Metsu who resigned, was named the new boss by the UAE football federation on Thursday.

Local press reports said Batheney had a one-year contract though the federation gave no indication in their statement, which said Batheney would "begin his post at the head of the national team on September 25".

Batheney's task will be to lead the team in qualifying for the 2010 World Cup finals in South Africa, the Asian Cup finals in 2011 in Qatar, and the Gulf Cup, starting on January 14 in Muscat, Oman.

Metsu, who famously took Senegal to the quarter-finals of the 2002 World Cup, quit as coach on Sunday, standing down after the UAE lost both of their opening matches in the final Asian qualifying round for the 2010 World Cup.

Batheney, who had temporarily taken charge of the UAE team in 2005 during Asian Cup qualifiers, leads the team in an important World Cup qualifier in South Korea on October 15. In their build-up, they meet Japan on October 9 in a friendly.